That Mink Cleaned Me Out Again?

One winter night a mink(s) cleaned my ponds of every fish in them, over sixty fish. I replaced the missing fish with four new ones placed in my grotto pond and let nature take its course. Three years later the pond population was up to twenty six.
Two weeks ago I noticed that the food I gave them was not being eaten and no fish were coming to the top in their morning feeding frenzy. I took my long handled dip net and swirled it all around the pond, the result appeared to be that there was not one fish in the pond.My conclusion was that it was a #$@#&((&$ mink again. Several days ago just for the heck of it I threw a small handful of pellets into the pond and three fish made a mad dash to the top to grab a mouthful and just as quickly dove back down to the bottom. Today I realized that I had not lost one fish but again I noted a fear in coming to the surface to feed. Why had I not snagged any fish with my net was that they were all hiding within the coiled tubing around my pond pump.
If not a mink, what were they in mortal fear of? This year I moved some garden ornaments around.

Wait! That’s It! It wasn’t a mink it was my relocated garden fairy…

My poor fish had most likely thought that it was not a fairy but a heron peering down into the pool ready to take a stab at them. Over time, they will loose their fear of this garden ornament—I hope.

Comments

Our fish have got quite tame now and come to the top if they see you walking past, and shoal to the front of the pond for a feed. However, because we have been plagued by the Heron in the past, if they see the shadow of a large bird, rook, crow or even pigeon, fall across the pond they dive for cover. So I bet it's the shadow of the fairy that is spooking them, perhaps you could move her a bit further back.

I could but I like the appearance of the fairy dipping her foot in the water to cool off on a hot summers day. I did go out to my pond store and have purchased a good solution which I think will make the fish feel quite safe and secure. I bought 5 water hyacinth. They grow and replicate very quickly so in several weeks my fish will have a nice green blanket under which they can hide from their predators.

I have found a variety of birds 'fishing' from the pond. Herring gulls sitting on the surface and magpies stabbing at them. The fish are also ware at coming to the surface. A Christmas the wren [one of our smaller birds] took a 6 month old fish from the edge, bashed in several times then dropped it. It now swims in loops, clearly brain damaged.

So pleased your fish haven't been eaten L'strife, our pond is netted to keep the fish safe from my pets and the heron that used to fly over on a regular basis, we discovered it was eating from a pond two doors up, hasn't been seen lately so I guess its had the lot and now going elsewhere.. Our fish come up every time we walk near the pond, we have gained lots over the last two years, haven't a clue how many are in the pond now...….I like to see all your ornaments and agree the fairy looks very happy dipping her toe, lovely photo's L'strife….

Well who would have thought it!! We don't see mink in most places here, unless they are ones escaped from mink farms which i don't think we have any more anyway. But we do have otters and herons, who are just as ready to empty ponds of anything that swims...
I love your use of garden ornaments!

We don't have mink but raccoon which are skillful and persistent fishers. Raccoons will not hesitate to jump in after the fish. Hawks are another story. Forget it. I would suggest creating a few hiding places for your fish to escape when they sense danger. Build and underwater cavern with bricks or broken terracotta pots, a place to hide from view of hawks and minks.

Thank you all:) Bath I do have a few weighted plastic pots with the bottom cut out to make a tunnel in the ponds and I just added a few more lengths of coiled tubing to hide in which they seem to prefer.

Looks really lovely Loosestrife. We don’t have any issues, touch wood, with anything trying to catch a goldfish or two. The cats visiting or passing through tend to ignore the fish and just stop for a drink. We get the occasional fox too, but don’t seem to bother, same with the garden birds.
Love your ornamental fairy!

Thank You K123. I have a total of 5 watergardens (ponds) and one water feature. Water is circulated in 3 of them by electric pumps. The other two and the water feature are solar powered by solar panels large enough to keep those pump motors going even on cloudy days. In addition, the ponds have bubblizers going 24/7-365 days a year. I believe that all the ponds and water feature can be seen in my garden photos section.